WV Prosecutor: "Chicken stomping not animal cruelty, PETA harassed me"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

No animal cruelty charges in chicken stomping
Grand jury declines to indict workers despite acts caught on tape
The Associated Press
Updated: 2:32 p.m. ET June 8, 2005

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8145415/

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. - A grand jury refused to indict former workers at a Pilgrim's Pride Corp. chicken plant who kicked and stomped live birds while being filmed undercover by an animal rights group.

Special prosecutor Ginny Conley had previously said she had no evidence to warrant criminal charges, but said Wednesday that more evidence had been found that persuaded her to present the case to a grand jury. Pressure from the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals did little to sway her, she said.

"In fact, if anything, the harassment I received from PETA was very intrusive on me performing my duties as prosecutor," said Conley. "However, after I gained the additional information I received, I felt it at least warranted presentation to the citizens of Hardy County."

She wouldn't describe the additional evidence, but said some of it came from PETA. The undercover PETA investigator who videotaped the acts helped Conley make a two-hour presentation to the grand jury Tuesday. But the panel did not charge the unidentified workers.

Ginny Conley, Acting Executive Director
West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute
90 MacCorkle Avenue SW, Suite 202
South Charleston, WV 25303
304-558-3348
304-558-3360 (fax)
[e-mail]

[Beware the Beast Man]

1. 99% of the time, I do not agree with PETA's actions,

but that prosecutor is bananas. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Pilgrim's Pride is a big-time Scrub supporter.

[ronnykmarshall]

2. Que?

Unless they're making a nice pounded chicken breast cutlet, they need to be stomping them birds.

[shockra]

3. Chickens aren't considered animals under the Animal Welfare Act.

So it's hard to prosecute a case like this. Rats, mice and birds aren't considered animals under the AWA, so around 30 million of them a year are used in laboratory research without any protections and aren't counted in the tabulation of the number of animals used.

[gmoney]

4. Call of the Wreckin' Ball

"Call of the Wreckin' Ball" by the Knitters

Well I woke up this morning, lookin' for kicks
Went out to the barnyard to stomp on some chicks
They call me Wreckin' Ball, ' cause I'm the baddest of 'em all

I got a bullet head and one stray eye, my back's been broken twice
Wear overalls and big ol' boots, my pants is filled with lice
They call me Wreckin' Ball, ' cause I'm the baddest of 'em all

I'll stomp on an egg, or I'll stomp on a duck
Geese or cornish hens, I don't give a fuck
They call me Wreckin' Ball, ' cause I'm the baddest of 'em all

Chorus:
Roosters and hens,
And all their feathered friends,
They know it's time to fly
When I come stompin' by
Well cockle-doodle-doo,
I'm gonna put my tread on you,
That's the call of the Wreckin' Ball

Well everybody asks why I'm such a bastard
Well wringing their necks ain't no fun and stompin' kills 'em faster
They call me Wreckin' Ball, 'cause I'm the baddest of 'em all

If your fowl's gone foul, and you can't count on Rover
Just look me up and I'll stomp right over
They call me Wreckin' Ball, 'cause I'm the baddest of 'em all

The life I lead is mighty slim pickins
There ain't much call for stompin' on chickens
They call me Wreckin' Ball, 'cause I'm the baddest of 'em all

Well every night I pluck the feathers from my shoes
And sing a little bit of these chicken stompin' blues
They call me Wreckin' Ball, 'cause I'm the baddest of 'em all

(Rather cruel lyrics, but one helluva a good country rocker by X offshoot band, the Knitters)